The Knowledge to Care (K2C) cluster develops the theory and practice of evidence-informed healthcare. We strategically use five ways of working that underpin contemporary healthcare to inform our activity. The K2C cluster views, patient and public involvement and engagement, co-working, , implementation science, improvement science and knowledge mobilisation as a repertoire of approaches which, when appropriately and skilfully applied, can maximise practice impact.
Core team
Professor Fiona Cowdell - Professor of Nursing and Health Research (Lead of K2C Research Cluster)
“I’m passionate about knowledge mobilisation (KMb) because I don’t like waste. Unused research findings are a waste, new knowledge needs to be used, where it is intended, as quickly and as accessibly as possible. We need KMb to ensure we do not waste the knowledge we have generated. As my research is about healthcare, I also have a moral imperative to ensure knowledge is used in clinical practice and KMb is a vehicle for this.”
As a nurse who has worked for over 25 years in clinical practice and nursing leadership, as a researcher and as an NIHR Knowledge Mobilisation Research Fellow, Alumna Fiona is committed to using the five core elements of K2C (patient and public involvement, co-working, implementation and improvement sciences and knowledge mobilisation) appropriately and skilfully to improve care and generate impact
Professor Judith Dyson - Professor of Implementation Science 
“It is commonly assumed if we know we will do. If that were true, most of us would be eating more fruit and vegetables, exercising more, we’d never drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes. The same assumptions are assumed of health care behaviours. But knowing doesn’t always equate to doing; competing priorities, staffing levels, institutional culture and expectations… many things impact. My great pleasure is working with others to mitigate care barriers.”
Judith is a general and mental health nurse and a chartered psychologist. As an implementation scientist, her research spans all clinical areas, working with clinicians and patients to get latest evidence into practice. Judith often works in clinical practice supporting colleagues in optimising care delivery. She draws upon a wide range of implementation and improvement techniques, but her expertise is in understanding the determinants to clinical and care behaviours. Her current projects relate to midwives advising pregnant women about alcohol, pressure ulcers, e-cigarettes for cessation, asthma prescribing and the safety of epilepsy medicines for pregnant women.
Sereena Raju - Research Assistant 
“I am passionate about using research to inspire change in healthcare and decision-making. When we fully unpick the “why” as well as the “what”, research has the power to win hearts and minds. I enjoy using both traditional research methods and creative techniques to convey the essence of people’s experiences.”
Sereena’s PhD used knowledge mobilisation to support midwives with consultations surrounding weight gain with South Asian women. She developed postcards and a video to support midwives and is now working on a pilot study to evaluate the strategies with wider groups of midwives and individuals from South Asian groups. The feedback will be used develop the strategies further. Sereena also supports the delivery of wider research projects and publications across the cluster.
Hannah Harvey - Research Assistant 
“The best research ideas can often be overheard in waiting rooms. People with lived experience can usually tell us exactly what the problems are and know the true impact. My passion is finding creative ways to achieve inclusive collaboration with the public that reaps the benefits of diverse skills and expertise. Everyone is important.”
Hannah is a qualitative researcher with focus on co-designing health services. Her PhD focused on ways that practitioners communicate diagnostic information to families. She is now works with and members of the public to co-design services that are inclusive at the point of delivery.
Meet the wider team
Dr K Louise McKnight: Senior Lecturer and Researcher - Radiography
“I love working with people to help them understand their role in linking research and knowledge to the care of patients and the education of others.”
Louise enjoys teaching and supervising undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral research students. Her research interest is the pedagogy of research in radiography and developing students to become confident critical thinking practitioners, using research in their work. As a BCU STEAMhouse research fellow, Louise is developing an innovative qualitative data collection and analysis method: Co-Constructed Depiction.
Hannah Mosley - Senior Lecturer in Adult Nursing
“As a novice researcher, K2C opened my eyes to the importance and value of co-creation in research, and I am excited to implement this approach as I progress and develop my research experience.”
Hannah is a Registered Nurse with a Neuro Critical Care background. A key aspect of Nurse Education is that of evidence-based practice and Hannah feels it is vital that Future Nurses are equipped with knowledge and see the importance of promoting implementation of research findings in their practice. Student nurses are the future of the nursing profession, so knowledge mobilisation, and how research findings can be implemented to make an impact in healthcare, is important to foster early in their careers
Úna Kerin: Associate Professor and Head of the Dame Edith Cavell Department - Adult Nursing
“I am passionate about generating knowledge with real-world clinical relevance.”
As a qualitative researcher, Úna is committed to generating knowledge to inform clinical practice. Clinically, Úna worked as an emergency nurse for many years in Ireland and the UK. Úna is involved in ongoing research focusing on clinically relevant care of the older person. One study aims to improve healthcare professionals’ understanding of frailty and co-design frailty interventions with older people and healthcare professionals. Úna’s doctoral research aims to improve healthcare professionals’ understandings of older adults’ hospital-to-home discharge.
Jo Swan: Senior Lecturer - Tissue Viability
“As a novice researcher it is helpful to be a part of a supportive and knowledgeable group, all passionate about the importance of generating and embedding evidence into practice. It has been instrumental in driving me forward to develop my research.”
Jo qualified as a general nurse in 1994 and has had roles within a liver unit, intensive care, critical care outreach and acute pain management, and played a part in a number of research projects during this time. As the Lead Tissue Viability Specialist Nurse in a large university hospital, Jo completed an MSc in Wound Healing and Tissue Repair at the University of Cardiff and became interested in the role of research to improve patient outcomes. Since 2020, Jo has been the senior lecturer for Tissue Viability at BCU, with particular interests in prevention and management of pressure ulcers and surgical site infection.
Kirsty Patel: Research and Teaching Assistant - Radiography
“Throughout my career in radiography, I experienced challenges in adapting, altering, and advancing professional knowledge to improve practice and clinical education. The tools I have been introduced to through K2C allow me to explore and understand these issues and articulate them to the wider profession.”
Kirsty is a qualified radiographer studying full-time for her PhD at Birmingham City University. Her research is focused on clinical radiography education and during her studies has developed an interest in knowledge mobilisation and the concept of clinical mindlines. Kirsty is eager to encourage discussion of how knowledge is used and shared in practice and inspire practitioners and students to understand the value of multi-directional knowledge sharing.
Sue Shortland - Associate Professor in Primary Care
“I am passionate about the work of the K2C cluster through the collaborative nature of the group and the focus on service user led clinical research that has the potential to have a real impact on individuals and populations.”
Sue worked in general practice for over 25 years, moving to an academic role at Birmingham City University in 2008. Sue is an advocate for the recognition and value of general practice nursing and the importance of their involvement in research. Her research across primary care topics includes the care of people with eating disorders, clinical academic careers for practice nurses and social prescribing. Sue is a Queens Nurse, a member of the Association for General Practice Nurse Educators and part of a national community of practice which supports the development of primary care nurses in research.
Emma Craddock - Senior Lecturer in Health Research
“I am passionate about finding ways for research to have a real-world impact on policy and practice, especially in relation to women’s experiences, as this area has historically been neglected. I enjoy questioning what is considered to be valuable knowledge and shedding light on the relationship between knowledge and power.”
Emma does feminist research in the area of women’s health, focusing on how women's lived experiences of health and illness can be transferred into practice and policy through public and patient engagement. Recent projects include An Evaluation of a Women’s Health Network in Bradford, and Periods in a Pandemic: How UK period poverty initiatives are mitigating Covid-19 related challenges. She teaches postgraduate research methods.
Edlira Vakaj: Natural Language Processing Lab Leader and Senior Lecturer - Computing and Data Science
“I am fascinated by how digitising knowledge and adding some intelligence to it can facilitate sharing, disambiguation, and a wider common understanding of the K2C aim and mission.”
Edlira leads the Natural Language Processing AI Lab and is a Senior Lecturer of Computer Science in the Computing and Data Science department. She conducts multidisciplinary research projects with a focus on Knowledge Modelling and AI. She is involved in the collaborative project Modernising Patient Engagement using Artificial Intelligence. Edlira is principal investigator of the ACCORD Horizon project and is engaged in several European and UK-funded projects. She is the Academic Lead of several Knowledge Transfer Partnership projects and supervises PhD students in Healthcare and AI.
Kara Fereday: Senior Lecturer – Adult Nursing
“Through the K2C cluster I have the opportunity to influence future evidence-based knowledge, which will continue to make a difference to education and practice. I believe it is important that we continuously invest in and move forward with evidence-based health care. It makes a difference.”
Kara has been qualified as a nurse for 30 years and in this time has worked in varied specialities. More recently, Kara worked within End-of-Life Care and Education and during this time has seen how evidence and research have gained momentum in nursing and how this informs practice. She teaches on Adult Nursing and the Post Qualifying Practice Programme.
Laura Garbett: Senior Lecturer - Operating Department Practice
“I am passionate about exploring mindlines and mobilising knowledge of the Operating Department Practitioner as a profession in order to improve interprofessional collaboration and ultimately patient safety.”
Laura is an Operating Department Practitioner (ODP) with clinical experience in anaesthetic care, and post anaesthetic care and resuscitation. She has a keen interest in interprofessional learning and how this can contribute to high quality care within perioperative and critical care settings. Laura’s research interest in the experiences of ODPs during the Covid-19 pandemic and she is currently undertaking a Professional Doctorate with a particular focus upon knowledge mobilisation.
Emma Gibson - PhD student and Visiting Lecturer in Health Psychology
“I am passionate about improving how we can take research evidence for lifestyle changes and make it accessible and easier to implement for healthcare professionals. I hope this will support them to feel more knowledgeable and confident when discussing these aspects of care with patients.”
Emma is undertaking a PhD exploring the influences of healthcare professionals’ physical activity promotion for patients with type 2 diabetes. Her research primarily focuses on understanding professionals’ perceptions of the barriers and facilitators that they experience in translating physical activity research evidence into practice. It also explores the views of policymakers and decision-makers to understand their perceptions of the barriers to effective implementation of health interventions, strategies, and policies.
Bernie Keenan: Senior Lecturer – Adult Nursing
“I am passionate about the application of research to practice. There is a need for nurses to be enabled to do research that they feel is relevant for patients. I love working with a committed team of researchers and feel I learn something new every day.”
Bernie’s research focuses on the care of older people in the acute general hospital setting, care of older people with dementia and safeguarding. She is an editor for the journal Ageing and Health. She has previously represented Nursing and Public & Patient Involvement, was Chair of the West Midlands Institute for Ageing & Health, and has been a member of the Older Peoples’ Practice Development Unit, and an executive member of the National Council for Women’s Medical committee.
Lynsey Richards: Senior Lecturer and MSc Course Lead - Dietetics
“I have a great interest in the practice of mindfulness and have become increasingly fascinated by the impact mindfulness can have on the physical and mental wellbeing of the healthcare workforce and the users of healthcare services.”
Lynsey is working towards a PhD focused on the role of mindfulness in dietetic practice and is currently working on a review of the literature investigating the effect of mindfulness interventions on stress, anxiety, and burnout amongst healthcare professionals. Lynsey is also involved in research into nutrition and dietetic interventions in prisons and sustainability in healthcare.
Kathryn Kinmond: Assistant Lecturer and Psychotherapist
“I believe in the importance of sound research to develop effective patient/client centred care.”
Kathryn’s academic and clinical work has always been focused on the application of best practice. Kathryn has been a lecturer and researcher in Higher Education for over thirty years; and has also been a member of several HRA NHS Research Ethics Committees since 2006, currently as Vice Chair of South Birmingham. Kathryn’s work seeks to explore the interface between intervention and patient/client experience in order to achieve best outcomes for all.
Ben Appleby: Head of Nursing and Principal Lecturer - University of Wolverhampton
“I am passionate about championing K2C methodologies, with a focus on advancing practice and enhancing patient care. Understanding the impact of health education on patient care and building careers to empower an evidence-informed approach to practice lie at the heart of my research.”
Ben’s passion for research has always focused on closing the knowledge to practice gap. His PhD explored nurses’ and health care assistants’ intentions to implement evidence-based clinical practice guidelines. His current research evaluates advancing practice behaviour in underrepresented disciplines of nursing, using co-production and behavioural evaluation to explore practice.
Simon Farnworth: Senior Lecturer - Mental Health and Learning Disability Nursing
“For me, K2C research is about what kind of knowledge clinicians are bringing to their decision making, what frameworks influence their thinking and where knowledge comes from. I am interested in how we can help them to make decisions better informed by the evidence base, whilst still remaining true to the needs of the person receiving care.”
Simon has worked as a mental health nurse in acute, liaison psychiatry and as a community mental health nurse caring for children and young adults. He currently convenes the third year nursing module looking at safety and high quality care in mental health nursing.